Article April 8, 1911 Issue

"THIS ONE THING I DO."

FRANCES MACK MANN.

It was during Paul's imprisonment in Rome that he wrote to the church at Philippi these memorable words, "This one thing I do." From previous verses we learn that this "one thing" consisted in knowing man's unity with God, in keeping his thought steadfastly on perfection, not that he had himself realized this state of mind, but he was making every effort to do so; in other words, he was obeying the command, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind."

Fortunately for us, Paul also recorded the method of thought by which he gained ground in attaining unto perfection. His first step was taken in "forgetting those things which are behind." That is, he saw that we must forget everything in the past; must cut off the association of beliefs which would drag one backward into the old mesmerism of thinking and acting. The wisdom of this step is apparent, for had he allowed himself to dwell on his persecutions of others as recorded in Acts xxvi., where he says, "And many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them," he would have been overcome with self-condemnation. He would doubtless have been swallowed up by vain regrets, while "the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him," would have been lost to his consciousness.

There were other things for Paul to forget besides his persecutions of the Saints, for he had been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and instructed in a strict manner according to the law of the Jews; therefore his mind had been filled with the old Jewish theology which exacted "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." The false concepts of God, the blasphemy, the spirit of vengeance, and the anathema, all these must disappear before the risen Christ. Not only the theology which was written, but also the traditional theology which was oral, and which had been handed down from generation to generation, must be eradicated. To the church at Corinth he wrote, "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." After he stopped looking backward he was enabled to turn his whole attention to pressing forward. Christ, Truth, had called him, and had shown him the way to spiritual perfection.

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